Quartz with Pyrite inclusions

Item Description

While Quartz and Pyrite are not rare minerals, it's certainly not common to find Quartz crystals included with Pyrite like this. Typically the two species are seen together with one species growing on top of another, but when you see well-formed crystals of Pyrite frozen inside of Quartz like this, it's special and different. This piece is a sharp, well-formed, gemmy colorless prismatic crystal of Quartz, which hosts dozens of metallic golden Pyrite crystals inside. There is one predominant Pyrite crystal that measures approximately 7 mm that can be seen near the termination of the Quartz, and the majority of the other Pyrites are small, in the 1 mm range. The Quartz has a ding on the termination, and some separation marks on the lower part of the prism, so it's not completely pristine, but it's still a cool example of these attractive and fairly obscure specimens from Brazil.
From the collection of William ("Bill") (1927-2006) and Anne (1928-2021) Cook of Cleveland, Ohio (#10459). This husband and wife duo were actively involved in the mineral world for many decades. Bill was a PhD geologist, and Anne was a mathematician, and they both were very serious mineral collectors. Bill served for many years as adjunct curator of mineralogy at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the Micromounters' Hall of Fame on October 12, 2019. Both Bill and Anne, at various times, served as president both of the Mineralogical Society of Cleveland and of the Micromineral Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Anne was inducted into the mi The rare barium lithium beryllium phosphate Wilancookite was named in their honor in 2015.